Sir, - The case put forward by the President of Sinn Fein, Mr Gerry Adams, for the early release of those involved in the shooting dead of Det Garda McCabe, does not stand up when looked at objectively.
He argues that those guilty of this heinous crime should benefit like others from the terms of the Good Friday Agreement; there is guilt on both sides for the years of slaughter, but the Brits are the cause of it all. Expressions of regret to the McCabe family are meant to wipe the slate clean, so what is the problem with letting the rest of the gunmen out of prison?
His argument is a spurious one if we are to accept the propaganda spewed out by his organisation over the past 30 years, i.e. the raison d'etre for the IRA campaign in the North was to end British rule there. This illegal organisation cleverly avoided, for the most part, any confrontation with the authorities here and successfully won extradition cases in the courts on a number of occasions because of the loopholes in our laws.
Adare, where the shooting of Det Garda McCabe took place, is in the Republic. Those who took part were members of the IRA. No amount of Sinn Fein waffle and spin can link the so-called armed struggle in the North with the attempted armed robbery in Adare. By no stretch of the imagination can it be seen as political. And please, let's not hear of the guilty being let out early because of good behaviour. Had they been of good behaviour in the first place they would not now be getting their just desserts. - Yours, etc.,
Brendan M. Redmond, Hazelbrook Road, Dublin 6w.